Cong, AAP backing CAA protests for votes: Prasad  

The Constitution document was embellished with Hindu deities and motifs, said Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday while criticising Shaheen Bagh anti-CAA agitation.

In a series of tweets, Prasad said: "Today a lot of people are talking about the Constitution. Makers of Constitution of India decorated it with symbols of our culture. It has sketches of Ram, Krishna, Hanuman, Buddha, Natraj, etc. I wonder what Shaheen Bagh crowd has to say on this aspect of our Constitution."

Showing his concern about people suffering due to the protest, he said: "Is freedom of speech only for those few people who have kept the road blocked in Shaheen Bagh? What about the rights of those who are silently withstanding the difficulties and inconvenience as school buses, ambulances and other vehicles are not being allowed to pass through that area".

Criticising the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), he said they were using the protests for vote bank politics. "Rahul Gandhi & Arvind Kejriwal both stood with Tukde Tukde Gang, when raised slogans against India in JNU. They did that for vote bank. But they are not bothered about dignity of those religiously persecuted minorities from neighbouring countries because they may not be their vote bank," the BJP leader said.

"Now Congress Party has brought Jinnah in the political discourse on CAA. We can understand love of Congress leaders for Pakistan. I want to ask Kejriwal to clarify his stand on Jinnah," Prasad tweeted.

"The CAA neither gives nor takes away citizenship of any Indian citizen, as said repeatedly. Opponents of CAA have not been able to show one clause of this law that affects any Indian citizen. Muslims of India have been living here with dignity & will continue to live with dignity," the Minister said in a tweet.-IANS